The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a QSO Memo on July 28, 2021 regarding the Agency’s intent to remove prior guidance from 2017 from its guidance repository. The QSO Memo that is being removed is from July 7, 2017 (Ref: S&C: 17-37-NH), “Revision of Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) Policies and CMP Analytic Tool.”
Per the July 7, 2017 QSO Memo:
“To increase national consistency in imposing CMPs, CMS is revising the CMP analytic tool in the following manner:
• Past Noncompliance: ROs will impose a per-instance CMP for past noncompliance – something occurred before the current survey, but has been fully addressed and the facility is back in compliance with that area.”
The new QSO Memo updates that guidance.
What is in the July 28, 2021 QSO Memo:
Per the new Memo, CMS notes that the 2017 guidance instructed Regional Offices – now known as “CMS Locations” – to impose Civil Monetary Penalties for prior noncompliance on a per-instance basis only. CMS is removing this guidance to allow the Agency to decide when circumstances are appropriate to impose a per-day penalty for prior noncompliance.
There is no additional guidance in this new QSO Memo other than that CMS will work within the Agency’s operations to apply this discretion when needed, and if a notice of noncompliance is provided, it will include the penalty and the reason for the imposition of per-instance or per-day penalties for past noncompliance.
View the CMS QSO Memo, “Removal of the July 7, 2017 Memo (S&C 17-37-NH) from its guidance repository” (Ref: QSO-21-20-NH) here.
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